“I want to make an impact on the world,” says Highland Secondary student Caleigh Prose.
Prose was one of 56 grade 10 students participating in a unique English and social studies blended learning course this semester. As part of the blended course’s environmental unit, students created a visual portrayal of issues facing the planet, which they presented this week.
Thanks to a grant from ArtStarts, local artist and retired teacher, Gary Aylward, came in as the artist in residence to help students create their vision and provide inspiration.
The inspiration behind the project came from gothic style stained glass windows often seen in churches depicting various scenes.
Aylward explained that the idea behind the church stained glass windows had nothing to do with any religious group, but rather the idea of telling stories through visuals.
“Stained glass was put in for an illiterate population to go in and understand the stories of the bible and what was happening in the church. They didn’t have to read it, it was in the windows,” he said.
The project was set up like a small prairie church with four large “stained glass” windows on either side of the room, and a mannequin depicting the dangers of fast fashion at the front. The room was complete with dim lighting and soft music to set the mood.
“This is art with a political conscience and an ecological conscience,” said Aylward. “It’s a big educational church basically. We wanted the whole idea of sanctuary. Our planet is a sanctuary that we all live in. So the whole thing works in that church framework, harking back to the gothic stained glass windows.”
English teacher, Amber-Skye Brammall, and social studies teacher, Alissa Mather, gave students topics to research such as climate change, plastic pollution, the fast-fashion industry and electronic waste. The students then spent around a week creating their “window panes” in class.
“It was kind of five days of crazy, chaotic, but kind of beautiful art,” said Brammall. “This was a really great opportunity for them to learn in a different way, to have some choice and to showcase what they learned and what they were able to do in a very untraditional way.”
Prose’s project was about the effect of plastics in the ocean and she said it has inspired her to pay more attention to her trash.
“I’m definitely going to change the way that I recycle and the way that I deal with the garbage. I’m going to try harder to save the environment,” she said.
Kalea Richardson and Olivia DeLuca created their own tarot cards for their part of the project to demonstrate the earth’s predicted future if nothing is done to combat climate change.
“One fact that we found out that really inspired me is that we only have about 12 years left to act on climate change before the effects become pretty detrimental to the earth,” said Richardson.
DeLuca added, “The whole world has to act on it. It’s not just one person who has to do something.”
jolene.rudisuela@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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